Merry Christmas, Lynnette
by colonelbonwit
Summary: This is a fanfic about Lynnette and Tom Scavo. They've been in some rough territory lately, and Tom decides to surprise her. Will it turn out as well as Tom hopes?


**Merry Christmas, Lynnette**

**By Dan Doty**

With snowflakes falling gently on the wings of the airplane, Lynnette settled into her seat next to Tom. She was still reeling of the shock of what had happened two days ago. She had been cleaning the house, as usual, while the boys were at school, when out of nowhere someone knocked on the door.

"Shit," she thought to herself, "there's just no end to the interruptions." Lynnette considered simply ignoring it, but something told her that she'd better see who it was. She opened the door, and was utterly flabbergasted to see Tom's rosy-cheeked mother standing there on her porch.

"Mrs. Scavo! Tom never told me you were coming! What a pleasant surprise!" She honestly meant this—unlike some of her neighbors, Lynnette's relationship with her own mother-in-law had always been pleasant.

"Oh, of course he didn't, dear. He meant to surprise you! I'm not quite sure what he had in mind…I know I never would've considered it a gift if my husband had had my mother-in-law show up unexpected," said the elder Mrs. Scavo.

"Well come in…it's wonderful to see you." They settled in over a cup of coffee, waiting for Tom to get home with the boys to explain.

They didn't have very long to wait. Less than a half hour later, Tom, Parker, Preston, and Porter burst through the door. The kids, on seeing her, ran to their grandmother, yelling and fighting each other the whole way over. Tom walked across the room and kissed his mother. While Mrs. Scavo treated her grandsons to some cookies she had brought along in her bag, Tom took Lynnette into the living room.

"Hey baby! Are you surprised?" Tom asked.

"Well, of course I am! I might be a little more pleasantly surprised if I knew what this actually meant, though," she admitted.

"I'm kind of shocked that you didn't work it out earlier. I've been planning this for a few weeks now. I thought maybe….maybe you'd appreciate it if you got to take a little break from the housework for at least a weekend. I was talking to Mom about it and she told me she'd love to come down and watch the kids, so I went out and set up a vacation for just you and me. It's this beautiful little inn up in Vermont, with a fireplace and a hot tub and the whole bit! We can go skiing, or go out sightseeing, or whatever it is you want to do. Think of it as an early Christmas."

Lynnette was absolutely amazed. She stared at her husband for a minute, thinking that perhaps he was just trying to buy back her trust and affection. Then she thought, "Who cares. If that's what he's doing, it's definitely working." She smiled, and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"I guess I'll take that as a yes! Well then, let's get to packing."

So here she found herself, sitting next to her less-than-perfect husband in an airplane to Albany, New York. "Let's get to packing" had really ended out meaning "How's about you pack while I sit here and BS with my mom." At first it had grated on her nerves, as did the fact that she was also in charge of setting her mother-in-law up with instructions and phone numbers for the care of her spastic boys, but she thought to herself and realized that in a failing marriage like hers, she'd have to take what she could get as far as romance went and pick her battles wisely. She smirked to herself, and settled in for the long flight ahead.

Touching down after an uneventful three hour flight, the Scavos arrived in Albany and grabbed the keys to a Honda Civic at the Budget Rent-a-Car desk. After years of driving a minivan, Lynnette commented on how great it was to sit inside of a nice, clean, low-to-the-ground, CAR. Tom grinned at her and said, "Baby, if all it takes is a sedan to get you going, imagine how great it's going to be to have a weekend to ourselves!"

She thought about it, looked over at Tom, and said, "Tom…I love you. Thank you so much for this." With a wink she said, "With the exception of the twins, this is probably the best Christmas present you've ever given me."

Tom laughed, and they drove on to Vermont.

They finally pulled up at the Birch Ridge Inn. After Tom checked in, he took their heavy bags inside. Yet another pleasant surprise for Lynnette! The room was beautiful—a plush double bed with a fireplace and an outdoor hot tub. For all his flaws, Tom certainly knew how to sweep a girl off her feet when he had to.

The message light on their phone was flashing urgently. "Honey, do you think we should call your mom and see if they kids are alright?" asked Lynnette.

"Baby, don't worry about that. The kids are fine. My mom had kids in the house for almost twenty-five years, she can handle our boys," replied Tom.

She looked at it and decided that for once in her life, she'd rest easy. She wrapped her arms around Tom's neck, ignored the flashing light, and began to kiss him long and hard. They carefully removed their clothes, and fell to the bed for passion they hadn't felt since before their boys were born.

When they were finished, Tom got dressed and stood up. "Hey baby, I have to run out and get something real quick. Don't leave until I get back, alright?"

She looked up and smiled at him, "No problem."

After Tom walked out the door, Lynnette rolled over, glared at the flashing light, and pulled the cord out of the wall. Unbeknownst to her, Tom's mother was dialing them with an extremely urgent message at that very moment. Utterly oblivious, Lynnette fell asleep on the bed.

She awoke over an hour later to a raging blizzard outside the windows of their room. "It's never snowed this much back on Wisteria Lane…I hope Tom makes it back alright. It's been over an hour. You'd think he'd be here by now."

Five minutes later, Tom burst through the door, absolutely covered in snow, but bearing a now rather wilted bouquet of roses in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other. "I figure that a romantic weekend in a bed and breakfast isn't complete without this," he said.

Lynnette hurried over and said, "You really had me worried. I wasn't so sure how well you'd handle snow, with the fact that we barely get any back home."

Before he replied, Tom took out his cell phone and rested it on the dresser. The voicemail light was flashing, but neither of them noticed. Tom began to speak.

"Lynnette, I want to apologize for everything I've put you through over the last few months. I haven't exactly been…the best husband I could have been, or even the best father." At this, Lynnette inwardly nodded to herself, "No you haven't." Tom continued, "After awhile, I must say, I was getting bored with our marriage. I didn't totally process how much work you put into staying home, or why you were always so tired every single night. I want you to know, though, that after our last huge fight I started watching you with the kids. You never let our problems affect your poise, or your patience with the boys. You were still the amazing mother you always have been. It brought to light how much of a bastard I've been to you lately, and how lucky I really am to have you in my life. I love you, and I wanted to take you on this trip to show you how much I meant that."

Lynnette was dumbfounded. "Tom, I love you too," she finally stammered in response. "Thank—"

At this moment Tom's cell phone began to ring. "Honey, answer that," Lynnette said.

He looked at the caller ID and said, "It's just my mom. She's probably just calling to say everything's good. We can call back later."

She said again, "Answer the damned phone." He didn't know what it was, but he decided that maybe she had a point, and picked up.

"Hey mom how's it—what? Oh my God. Is he okay? What are the doctors saying?"

Lynnette's heart stopped. What happened? Why was Tom so upset? It was a few minutes before Tom began to speak again.

"Okay mom…thank you so much for calling. We're going to come home as soon as we can. I love you." He hung up.

"Tom! What was that about?" Lynnette said, her voice shaking.

"Apparently…apparently Parker has a severe peanut allergy. We never knew that, and neither did Mom. She gave them each a peanut butter cookie, and within 10 minutes Parker was on the ground turning blue. She called the paramedics, and they got there as fast as they could. They took him to the hospital…" he trailed off.

"And?" She almost yelled it. She felt almost guilty now, for having been enjoying herself so much and looking forward to time away from her boys.

"I guess it was touch and go for awhile. He's still in the ICU, and the doctors are afraid that there might be another flare up and that he might end out dying. They put his chances at 50/50, right now."

Lynnette buried her head in her hands and began to cry. Tom rubbed her back, then began piling their things into the rental car for the long trip back home. When Lynnette finally stood up, Tom walked over and took her into his arms, and held her.


End file.
